# Help me rekindle my relationship with manga



## Departure Song (Jun 10, 2009)

Posted this as a note on Facebook...


> Hello all.
> 
> It has come to my attention that I'm not actually into anime.
> 
> ...


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## foreign contaminant (Jun 10, 2009)

the last manga i picked up that i really enjoyed was dororo, by osamu tezuka. it's only three volumes long and they're reasonably priced. for that matter, pretty much tezuka anything is worth your money.

there's also emma, a romance story about a victorian-era maid. the art in it is pretty top-notch. it's very hard to explain its appeal, but if you like it, you'll know by the end of the first volume.


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## Momoharu (Jun 10, 2009)

I really like all the Shonen Jump manga (One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, ES21) so I might recommend those to you, but they're kinda action-y. I'm not too good with stuff outside shonen manga, but Death Note's a really interesting series, and Ouran High School Host Club's a really nice series too.


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## Keltena (Jun 10, 2009)

I agree with Death Note - really, really interesting. Petshop of Horrors is also fantastic, though maybe a little hard to find the first series... Yu Yu Hakusho is, at the very least, amusing, and Case Closed (a.k.a. Detective Conan) is in my opinion a series of very good mystery stories.


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## spaekle (Jun 10, 2009)

Most of what I like is either action-ey or anime rather than manga, so I'm kind of at a loss here. :V DN Angel is very, very good though.

You might like Tarot Cafe; it's a Korean manwha with a lot of supernatural-type stuff going on. I like the artwork, anyway.

I found Angel Sanctuary really long and confusing, but I have friends who really like it. 

Everyone in the world has seen/read Death Note and the fanbase is quite facepalm-worthy a lot of the time, but it's still worth looking into, I think.

I was going to suggest Paranoia Agent for horror/mystery/mindfuck awesomeness, but I'm not sure if there's a manga of it, and if there is I'm not sure if it's readily available in the US. Still a great anime series if you're willing to look it up though.


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## Erif (Jun 10, 2009)

Meh, i don't rad manga if I can practically watch the same thing as an anime. :/

But there is one series I'm current;y reading and/or loving. Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, that is. I know, it sounds stupid, but it's really good, IMO. Its a dark fition (kinda like a horror, but not really scary)/supernatural/fantasy, and it's about a genius kid, Muyho, and his assistant, Roji, who are both practitioners of Magic Law(which will be explained in the book). Basically it's about ghosts, unwanted spirits, and these practitioners have to go around and send these powerful spirits to heaven or hell, which isn't always easy. This isn't all the book is about though, so it won't keep you bored. I would definitely consider checking this out, at least the first book.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Jun 10, 2009)

foreign contaminant said:


> for that matter, pretty much tezuka anything is worth your money.


Agreed, he's one of the only manga artists whose work I really appreciate and like. Comics of his I liked are Vampire, MW and Adolf (my favourite). Looking forward to Blackjack, Dororo and Gringo.

As always, I reccomend Naoki Urasawa's Monster. I really love this series, and it's finished so you won't have to wait between volumes.

While I was never a big fan, I always thought Fruit Basket was okay-ish, but it really starts spiralling to hell and nonsense and pointless drama the nearer you get to the end. So disappointing.


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## Dannichu (Jun 10, 2009)

Seconding Detective Conan/Case Closed as a really great mystery series, and I recommend Pet Shop of Horrors as a good horror manga.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Jun 10, 2009)

As for humour: Yotsuba&? I like it a lot.


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## foreign contaminant (Jun 10, 2009)

yotsuba&! is my favorite manga. is it smart humor? i don't know, but i love it so much regardless.


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## Dannichu (Jun 10, 2009)

Oh god, me too. The humour is indiscribable... reading it makes me feel happy to be alive :D


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## spaekle (Jun 10, 2009)

Vladimir Putin's LJ said:


> While I was never a big fan, I always thought Fruit Basket was okay-ish, but it really starts spiralling to hell and nonsense and pointless drama the nearer you get to the end. So disappointing.


Urgh, _yes_. Fruits Basket starts out all fun and happy and stays that way until volume 6 or so, at which point the fun slowly starts to drain away until all that's left is pointless drama. I stopped caring about it long before it ended, just because it wasn't the same series any more. :\ 

Also, DN Angel's anime sucks. I've already had my rant about that somewhere else though. :V


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## hopeandjoy (Jun 11, 2009)

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and xxxHoLic are both really good. They're by CLAMP so they're CLAMP-y, though.

The first half is Happy-Fun-Times and the other half is What-the-Effing-Crap. In a good way. But it is an mind screw. (



Spoiler



In the climax, which Sakura and Syaoran is which? Are the parent Sakura and Syaoran the ones from CCS? Why does everyone except Watanuki forget Yuuko? How is Yuuko dieing and holding to conversations at the same time? Who the effing crap _is_ Ass Chin anyway?


) That doesn't mean it's not well done and strangely beautiful. And yes, you need to read both. Or you'll be even more confused.


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## Storm Earth and Fire (Jun 11, 2009)

Bah, you've shut down a good portion of what I read by putting that it's gotta be smart humor. And not so actiony.

That leaves...

What about Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy? A manhwa set in the Warcraft universe, but it's not so heavy with the universe's elements, I personally think a non-fan could get into it, though it has a fair amount of action. (unless I was mistaken and you are one, in which case, cheers!) It's 3 volumes, so it's not long at all.

Everything else I read is probably not something you would enjoy, based on your criterion.


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## Dewgong (Jun 11, 2009)

probably death note, as people have already said.

hmmm i don't know if you enjoy yaoi like i do so idk about recommending stuff from my stash of that


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## Frosty~ (Jun 11, 2009)

Seconding Yotsuba& x3

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni is pretty great, although I've heard it's quite different to the Anime. Only three volumes have been released outside of Japan so far, but it's worth checking out because it has an insane plot.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Jun 11, 2009)

20th Century Boys is also awesome if you like mistery. It's by Monster's creator so it has the same kind of feel (but with a completely different plot).


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## surskitty (Jun 11, 2009)

CLAMP is really good at making pretentious series, which might be to your taste but I dunno.  The art bothers me a lot though.

Claymore is awesome enough that even Verne thinks it's awesome.  The main male character is pretty irritating, but he doesn't show up much and he mostly vanishes to make room for attractive girls in spandex with realistically-sized boobs fighting awesome monsters.  I don't like how the artist draws faces, and the anime's pretty dumb, but the monster designs are _so awesome_.  Go forth!


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## goldenquagsire (Jun 11, 2009)

surskitty said:


> CLAMP is really good at making pretentious series, which might be to your taste but I dunno.  The art bothers me a lot though.


also, from most of the CLAMP stuff I've read, there is a HELL of a lot of romance (which I actually like quite but that's irrelevant).

seconding both _Death Note_ and _Monster_. also, gonna recommend _Godchild_ by Kaori Yuki. apparently it's actually a sequel to her earlier stuff, but I don't think that matters hugely. it's nicely gothic and mysterious.

also, I've only just started reading it, so I can't say how the series as a whole pans out, but I'd also suggest _The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service_ by Eiji Otsuka. I can safely say that it's the first manga I've read that genuinely freaked me out. it really is quite graphic at times, but it's quite interesting.


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## spaekle (Jun 11, 2009)

goldenquagsire said:


> also, gonna recommend _Godchild_ by Kaori Yuki.


Yeah, check that out too; it's by the same person who did Angel Sanctuary, and I liked it a lot better.

For CLAMP stuff, I liked Tokyo Babylon; most other stuff by them* I thought was okay but didn't care enough to continue. I did like what I read/saw of XXXHOLiC though.

* by this I mean Cardcaptor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth, Chobits, and maybe a couple other things I don't remember right now. I haven't read a _whole_ lot of their stuff. :V


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## goldenquagsire (Jun 11, 2009)

Spaekle Oddberry said:


> For CLAMP stuff, I liked Tokyo Babylon;


hell yes _Tokyo Babylon_

only thing is it's a bit on the romantic side. kinda sorta. gets confusing towards the end of the story arc. but eh.


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## foreign contaminant (Jun 11, 2009)

i've heard that junji ito's horror manga is pretty good. he wrote both uzumaki and gyo; neither are very long at all. i thought the art looked really cool..

i've found this blog to be pretty reliable when it comes to manga. the author has hundreds of reviews on at least that many series.

off-topic, but i wish i could find monster in a bookstore around here. it sounds so cool.. but i guess nobody here wants to take a lot of risks by stocking it. oh well.


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## Minish (Jun 11, 2009)

Definitely read Death Note. It's extremely intelligent and just... a really amazing series. And this is coming from someone who mainly reads romance shoujo. I really think you'd enjoy it.

I'm also seconding Claymore, though I didn't read much of it because I forgot where I got up to and haven't bothered to pick it up again.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else.
I totally agree with what everyone's said about Fruits Basket - much as I love it, it really did degenerate into so much drama I couldn't keep up with it. That and the style became sort of pretentious and empty to me, even though I appreciate the artist did improve a lot.

(Argh, I really want to recommend Hana Yori Dango, but hilarious and clever as it is, it's probably too much of a romance for you. DX)


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## Zuu (Jun 15, 2009)

Death Note, of course, also Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror or whatever its name is~ I forget the author, but it's awesome. that's probably also not how you spell that japanese word. whatever.


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## ultraviolet (Jun 15, 2009)

As someone who isn't much of a manga fan I have read Death Note and Loveless and I enjoyed them both.


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## Dewgong (Jun 17, 2009)

junji ito's work is really cool. especially the art.

hmm... i like clamp's stuff, but the art does bother me a little. the people are so tall...


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## Erif (Jun 17, 2009)

Ice the Frosty Cat said:


> Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni is pretty great, although I've heard it's quite different to the Anime. Only three volumes have been released outside of Japan so far, but it's worth checking out because it has an insane plot.


Very brutal and complex anime, if you're interested.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Jul 2, 2009)

Can't really recommend much, since I mostly read action type stuff...  But Mushishi was really good; I'd recommend you take a look at that to see if it might catch your interest.

As for humor, I don't know if it suits your tastes, but try out Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei; it can be a bit more bizarre than Cro' High at times, but never as over the top.  If you're not interested in it though, then you can just say that it's left you in despair.

It's a bit action-y, and has some romance, but I can't recommend any manga without recommending my personal favorite; Elemental Gelade.  And I KNOW you're not that interested in the genre, but you could always give Buso Renkin a try.

You might also try the manga adaptation of Tsukihime, but that's about all I can recommend.  It's kind of a shame you don't really like action stuff, because S-Cry-Ed is awesome.


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## Kai Lucifer (Jul 2, 2009)

I'd go for Immortal rain. Not only is it a great series that I'm sure most would enjoy (although apparently nobody has read) but it has that fantasy/horror element to it and a little romance. As for the humor part, it isn't really as much intelligent as it is spazzy and slapstick, but it's still pretty good and you should at least give it a try.

In case you're unsure about the humor, some panels in my sig are from Immortal rain.


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## Frosty~ (Jul 2, 2009)

Erif said:


> Very brutal and complex anime, if you're interested.


It was the other way around, I've watched the Anime and not read the Manga (At least at the time; I've got the first volume now and I'm getting the others when I get the money)


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